Royal News Blog

Note: This article is from The Guardian.

This article titled “Prince Andrew urged to undergo human rights awareness training” was written by Owen Bowcott and Robert Booth, for The Guardian on Thursday 10th March 2011 19.40 UTC

Prince Andrew should take a crash course in corporate responsibility and human rights awareness to enhance his role as the UK’s trade ambassador, a prominent Foreign Office adviser has suggested.

The proposal to retrain the fourth in line to the throne reflects growing criticism of the Duke of York’s style of business promotion and his close personal ties with corrupt and autocratic regimes, particularly in central Asia.

Tom Porteous, UK director of Human Rights Watch, is a member of the Foreign Office’s advisory group created by William Hague to provide guidance about human rights issues and assess the ethical implications of British foreign policy.

“This is a classic case of unjoined-up government,” Porteous said. “The government says it is committed to the rule of law, corporate responsibility and human rights around the world. So it should be promoting British business on the basis of those principles. They need to give [Prince Andrew] a crash course in human rights and corporate responsibility. It’s pretty clear that he hasn’t really thought about these kind of things.

“There’s a reputational risk here. Countries such as Turkmenistan [which the prince visited last April] have an appalling human rights record.”

Last night it emerged that a former British ambassador has written to the government to express concerns about the prince as scrutiny intensifies around his dealings with a number of controversial characters and his role as Britain’s trade envoy.

Retired diplomat Stephen Day, 73, a former ambassador to Qatar and Tunisia, confirmed that he had written to the foreign secretary about the issue.

“I wanted to express my concerns about these stories about the Duke’s activities, particularly relating to Tunisia,” he told the Press Association. “I think the government reacted splendidly to events in Tunisia, and I admire the position the government has taken over the protests in the Arab world. I think this is an unfortunate diversion.”

The letter was leaked to the Daily Telegraph, which quoted Day as saying: “It takes a lot to bring former British ambassadors to criticise a member of the royal family in public, but it is surely now recognised that the Duke’s activities are doing such serious damage to the royal family itself and to Britain’s political, diplomatic and commercial interests that an entirely new role should be found for him as soon as possible.”

One of the issues raised by the advisory group last year was whether the coalition’s decision to make British business abroad a priority conflicted with its pledge to support human rights.

Amnesty International has called on the duke, who has visited Azerbaijan seven times since 2005 and met President Ilham Aliyev, to intervene on behalf of a jailed newspaper editor, Eynulla Fatullayev, who has been adopted by the organisation as a prisoner of conscience.

Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, who is also on the advisory group, criticised the regime. “President Aliyev’s government exercises tight control over free speech in Azerbaijan,” she said. “Street protests are effectively banned and newspapers can be shut down for saying the wrong thing.”

The Queen is reported to have held private talks with Andrew about the mounting scandal over his trade dealings with despots for the government and his personal links to the US financier Jeffrey Epstein, who has been convicted of sex offences with young girls.

The prince’s spokesman refused to comment on the meeting, said to have taken place at the Queen’s private apartments at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, after more than two weeks of daily reports criticising his conduct and judgment as the UK’s international trade envoy.

“I understand that she asked him if any more stories are going to come out in the next few days,” the Daily Mail reported a senior aide as saying. “If the answer was yes, then his position will be untenable. I suspect he will make a decision in the next 48 hours or so.”The newspaper said the Queen was concerned that scrutiny of the duke was overshadowing preparations for the wedding next month of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which the royal family hopes to use to increase public support.

But backing for the prince came from Sir David Tang, the Hong Kong restaurateur and businessman. He met the prince before his visit last October to promote business interests in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, GeneWatch UK, which has campaigned against the police national DNA database, has disclosed that the UK Forensic Science Service is involved in a plan to DNA-test the entire population of the United Arab Emirates, under a contract signed in the presence of Andrew in 2006.

Dr Helen Wallace, of GeneWatch UK, called on ministers to scrap the contract under which a universal DNA database is to being built and linked to a national identity card scheme. “This would allow the Emirates to track every citizen and identify their relatives, a frightening prospect for dissidents and women,” she said.

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Note: This article is from The Guardian.

This article titled “Downing Street struggles to contain row over Prince Andrew’s trade role” was written by Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent, for The Guardian on Monday 7th March 2011 22.04 UTC

A Downing Street operation to shore up the position of Prince Andrew as Britain’s special trade representative ran into trouble as the government struggled to take control of a row over his dealings with controversial business figures.

A list of “company endorsements” of the Duke of York’s performance as Britain’s special trade envoy, compiled by his private office, backfired when it emerged that many of the tributes were four years old.

An attempt by Downing Street to dismiss reports that ministers were preparing to downgrade the duke’s role also ran into difficulties when No 10 sources made it clear that his position would become untenable if more damaging details emerged.

The operation to defend the duke came as his former wife issued a strong apology for accepting money from a convicted billionaire sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The Duchess of York told the London Evening Standard she was guilty of a “gigantic error of judgment” for accepting £15,000 from Epstein to help her pay off her debts.

The duke has faced intense criticism in recent weeks over his friendship with Epstein, who is facing a new FBI investigation over allegations of his involvement with underage girls. A picture was released last week of the duke with his arm round Virginia Roberts, then aged 17, who claims she was sexually exploited by Epstein and his friends. The teenager said she met the prince, who allegedly enjoyed massages at Epstein’s home. The prince categorically denies any wrongdoing or impropriety.

The duke’s links with Epstein prompted a cabinet minister to tell the Guardian over the weekend that a “tasking review” would be used to downgrade his role as Britain’s overseas trade envoy. The minister insisted, however, that the government could not force the duke out of the role.

Senior figures in Downing Street, alarmed by damaging headlines in the Guardian and other newspapers, ordered officials to launch an operation to rally to the duke’s defence. A senior figure told the BBC that the government had no intention of removing him. But the source added that if more damaging details emerged about the duke’s business and personal links his position would become untenable. As the BBC reported that the duke had been given what amounted to a yellow card, Downing Street intensified its defence amid fears that it could become entangled in a row with Buckingham Palace. The confusion put pressure on Craig Oliver, the former BBC News at Ten editor, in his second week as the new Downing Street director of communications.

Cameron’s spokesman said at the daily 11am briefing that the prime minister had complete confidence in the duke. The spokesman said: “The prime minister thinks he is doing an important job and is making a major contribution and he is supportive of him in that role. We are not reviewing that role in any way. The government’s position is very clear: that we support him in his role as trade envoy.”

George Osborne endorsed the duke during a cabinet away-day in Derby. “We have confidence in him doing the job and we think he’s done a good job in recent years. He’s promoted British exports. What we want is everyone promoting British exports at the minute and Prince Andrew has done that.”

Downing Street announced that a list of endorsements of the prince would be released to highlight strong support among business leaders for his role as trade envoy. A few hours later, shortly before 3.30pm, UK Trade and Investment released a list of 17 statements of support from business leaders under the headline “Company Endorsements”.

The government body, which organises the duke’s work as trade envoy, admitted that the list had been compiled by his office from a list of existing endorsements on his website dating back to 2007.

A UKTI spokeswoman said: “It has been compiled by his office. It is up on his website. It has been compiled over a period of time. Every trip he has been on people are asked for their feedback and it gets posted up.

“It is not this week. It is not in response to anything that has been happening this week. They are contemporaneous insofar as they are up on the website and they are still current because these are trips he has done not so long ago. It is 2007 onwards. Some will be really modern, some will be less modern.”

Mike Gapes, a former Labour chairman of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, called on the duke to stand down :”We need to be able to question our trade envoys about who they meet, what they do, what they do on behalf of our country … Because of his royal position, we can’t do that.”

However, Labour showed sensitivity over the affair when the leadership ordered Chris Bryant, the former Europe minister, and still a frontbencher, to stop calling for the duke to stand down.

Bryant was told to leave the duke alone after he told the Today programme that he should stand down because “he is a bit of an embarrassment”.

A useful club in Team UK’s bag?

Prince Andrew looked genuinely pained. His press officer looked nervous. The interview had not begun well. I had made the mistake of asking him to describe his “job” as special representative for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the government’s trade promotion arm.

“What you fail to understand …” he answered, before sighing and tailing off. Royals have roles, not jobs, was his point, when he eventually deigned to make it. Given the recent furore over the prince’s dealings with convicted paedophiles and deposed dictatorships, soon he may not have either.

It was 2006, and he was in Shanghai as part of a whirlwind trade tour of China. His advisers wanted to rebrand the prince as a serious, statesmanlike figure, based around his UKTI role.

The duke – as he is known among his entourage – did not help himself. He used a golfing analogy to describe his role as part of “Team UK”, promoting British business abroad. He was one of many different clubs in the golf bag used by the government, depending on the situation, he explained.

His advisers were paranoid about me using these quotes, for fear it would reinforce his image as a golfing playboy.

At an exclusive, 90-minute interview in his apartment in Buckingham Palace a year later, he displayed a remarkable level of openness for someone who is regularly pilloried in the press.

It is true that he had met me on the China trip the year before, and obviously felt I was trustworthy. But he seemed oblivious to the pitfalls of engaging so freely, most notably when talking about the cost of his trips to the taxpayer. I told him the £500,000 annual cost could be a considered a “bargain”.

He did not appear to notice the flippancy of the remark, pressing on unflinchingly: “In terms of the return on investment to the UK, I would suggest that £500,000 is cheap at the price.” His press officer blenched, fearful of how his comments would appear in print. Tim Webb

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Note: This article is from The Guardian.

This article titled “Prince Andrew must decide whether to continue in trade role, says Vince Cable” was written by Hélène Mulholland and Nicholas Watt, for Guardian Weekly on Monday 7th March 2011 09.22 UTC

Pressure is mounting on Prince Andrew over his trade envoy role for Britain amid claims he has become “a national embarrassment”.

The business secretary, Vince Cable, said the prince would have to judge whether he should carry on as UK trade envoy following further revelations over the weekend about his controversial dealings with discredited business figures.

Ministers indicated over the weekend that a review of the Duke of York’s role as Britain’s trade ambassador would be used to lower his profile, amid growing unease in Downing Street and ministerial circles.

Ministers have been alarmed by the prince’s links with Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire US financier who served a prison sentence for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. The Mail on Sunday reported that the FBI is to reopen its investigation into Epstein over allegations of his involvement with underage girls.

Cable told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that conversations would be taking place with Prince Andrew over his future role as Britain’s special trade representative: “He is a volunteer, he has offered to perform these roles, and I think it is down to him essentially to judge the position he wants to be in.

“Obviously there are conversations that will take place with him about what he is to do in future. That is simply a matter of managing the relationship.”

A picture was released last week of the prince with his arm around Virginia Roberts, then aged 17, who claims she was sexually exploited by Epstein and his friends. The teenager said she met the prince, who allegedly enjoyed regular massages at Epstein’s home. The prince categorically denies any wrongdoing or impropriety.

Chris Bryant, a Labour MP and former foreign minister, said the royal had become “a national embarrassment” who should no longer be used as a trade ambassador.

Bryant, who was chastised by the Commons Speaker last week for raising the issue on the floor of the house , told BBC Breakfast: “I am sure there are some countries in the world where having a visiting royal makes a difference, it makes it possible to have some meetings which wouldn’t otherwise be possible. But I am afraid he has now just become a national embarrassment.

“My worry is that, sometimes when he goes on these trips, I am not sure whether he is helping us out or he is just helping himself.

“The truth is we shouldn’t be using him for these delegations anymore.”

It was reported on Monday that the prince was shortly planning to lead a trade mission to Saudi Arabia, which has been identified as one of the most attractive potential markets for British companies.

Prince Harry last week cancelled a charity polo match in Dubai due to concerns it would appear insensitive amid rising political instability in the Middle East.

But the Duke of York is reportedly pressing ahead with the tour after cancelling earlier plans to visit Tunisia, according to the Financial Times.

The prince faced embarrassment over the weekend when the Guardian reported that he hosted a leading member of the deposed Tunisian dictatorship at Buckingham Palace three months before the regime collapsed. Sakher el-Materi, the son-in-law of Tunisia’s deposed president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, attended a lunch with more than a dozen executives from British multinationals hoping to win business in Tunisia. Materi, 29, fled Tunisia after Ben Ali was ousted.

One cabinet minister said a hard-headed assessment of Prince Andrew’s role would be made during a “tasking review”, which is held every six months to assess his work as Britain’s special trade representative.

“The gas can be turned up and the gas can be turned down,” the minister said, but stressed there was no question of removing the prince. “The royals go on, that is what they do,” he said.

There were suggestions over the weekend that Prince Andrew could be given more of a ceremonial role rather than his official position as trade envoy on behalf of the government body, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

Government sources indicated that they would be relieved to see the back of the prince as special trade representative. “It really is up to him,” one senior source said. “Will many people be shedding tears if he decided to go? I doubt it.”

It has been reported that Epstein helped to pay off debts owed by Sarah Ferguson after an alleged intervention from the prince, her former husband. Epstein is said to have given £15,000 to a former assistant of Feguson’s after the prince allegedly made an appeal as part of efforts to help her avoid bankruptcy.

As unease grew at senior levels in Whitehall about the prince’s links with a convicted sex offender, the prince held talks last week with Sir John Cunliffe, the prime minister’s most senior adviser on overseas business and Europe. The meeting was used to assess his future as part of the tasking review.

William Hague, the foreign secretary, said the government remained fully supportive of the prince. “I’ve seen a lot of benefits that he has brought in countries that I have visited where he’s been performing that role,” Hague told the Politics Show on BBC1.

Asked about the prince’s embarrassments, Hague said: “I’m not an expert on what you say are the embarrassments, I haven’t had time, with everything going on in the Middle East, to look at those things. But certainly I’ve seen around the world a lot of good that he has done for this country.”

Other Tories were privately less supportive of the prince, reflecting unease in Downing Street about his conduct. One senior Tory source said: “There appears to be no discernible mental activity upstairs as far as the duke is concerned. I feel sorry for him. He has no friends and so is surrounded by these vile people.”

But Ed Perkins, the prince’s press secretary, has pleaded with Whitehall in an email to show some support.

In the email, leaked to the Telegraph, Perkins said of the disclosure that the prince had hosted a relative of the then Tunisian president: “[I] am deploying the line that he [Materi] was vice-chairman of the chamber of commerce. Will UKTI stand behind him? We need some government backing here.”

Alastair Watson, the prince’s private secretary, also took the unusual step of commenting in public to defend his reputation. In a letter to the Times, Watson wrote: “The duke has known Mr Epstein since being introduced to him in the early 1990s. The insinuations and innuendos that have been made in relation to the duke are without foundation.”

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